Sigourney Weaver Says She Stood Up to James Cameron for Yelling at a Young Actress

Sigourney Weaver recently shared a story with The New York Times about standing up to director James Cameron during the filming of 1986’s “Aliens.” The sci-fi sequel brought Weaver back as Ellen Ripley after the success of Ridley Scott’s “Alien.”

Cameron, new to the franchise, was reportedly getting frustrated with a young actress who was struggling with some props on set.

“I sort of trundled up to him and I said, ‘You know, when you yell at an actor, you yell at all of us, so understand that what she was doing actually was very hard. Maybe shoot something else while she gets used to doing this stuff the way you want it,’” Weaver recalled. According to Weaver, Cameron listened to her advice. “He’s a good guy. I really do think Jim has mellowed.”

Weaver also remembered a dinner with Cameron after wrapping “Aliens,” noting that he was very different in a more relaxed setting.

“He hadn’t been like that directing. He was wildly funny, witty. I can understand why that guy couldn’t come out during ‘Aliens,’ because that was a tough shoot, especially for him. Let’s put it this way: I’m glad I wasn’t shooting ‘The Abyss’ with him,” she said.

Weaver was referring to Cameron’s 1989 film “The Abyss,” which was known for its grueling production. According to SyFy, cast and crew faced dangerous conditions, with Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio having an emotional breakdown and Ed Harris breaking down in tears due to stress.

One incident involved a lightning storm tearing a hole in the set tarp, leading to extended night shoots that caused skin burns and damaged hair. Harris described one particularly intense scene:

“[In the drowning scene I was] screaming at her to come back and wake up, and I was slapping her across the face and I see that they’ve run out of film in the camera — there’s a light on the camera — and nobody had said anything. And Mary Elizabeth stood up and said, ‘We are not animals!’ and walked off the set. They were going to let me just keep slapping her around!”

Despite Cameron’s past intensity, Weaver continued to work with him, starring in all three “Avatar” films. Her co-star Stephen Lang told The Times that Cameron has changed over the years: “A part of Jim that has leavened and lightened much over the years. I think he embarked upon a course of self-improvement, and I don’t say that this is actually necessarily a conscious thing that he did; I just think that he’s kind of geared that way.”

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